What can you do to stay slim if you lose a lot of body fat due to a weight loss diet? Show some self-discipline of course, and exercise a lot. Strength training will keep you on weight, just like healthy sleep and a protein-rich diet. And maybe supplementation with ecdysteroids may help as well. We read that in a 2014 patent from the French research company Biophytis.

Study
The patent shows that Biophytis has conducted a 12-week study with 60 test subjects with a BMI of 27-38. The subjects went on a weight loss diet that delivered per 1200-1500 kilocalories for 6 weeks. In the 6 weeks that followed, the subjects received 1440-1800 kilocalories per day.

Half of the test subjects took a placebo during the test, the other half a supplement with ecdysteroids. The researchers used a water-based quinoa bran extract that they had made themselves, consisting of 85-90 percent of ecdysterone, and 15-10 percent of makisteron A, 24-epimakisteron A, 24 (28)-dehydromakisterone A and 26-dicydroxyecdysone.

When the researchers wrote the patent, Biophytis had plans to market the extract as Quinolia. They gave the subjects in the experimental group 6 capsules each day with 40 milligrams of quinoa ecdysteroids. The subjects took 2 capsules with breakfast, 2 with lunch and 2 with dinner.

Results
Both groups lost 4 kilos during the first 6 weeks of the trial. During the second phase of the experiment, the placebo group became half a kilo heavier, while the experimental group lost another half a kilo.

The figures below show a possible mechanism of action. During the second phase of the experiment, the ecdysteroids inhibited the rise in insulin levels and insulin resistance.

Conclusion
"Said extract can advantageously be used to avoid weight regain in obese mammals on a hypocaloric weight-loss diet", write the researchers. "More specifically, the invention makes it possible to avoid weight gain in obese mammals having previously undergone a weight-loss diet."